Wall Street opens mixed, remains on track to post strong gains in January

Major equity indexes in the U.S. started the day in a mixed manner as the latest trade headlines weighed on the market sentiment and made it difficult for stocks to extend yesterday's Fed-inspired rally. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was losing 0.58% on the day, the S&P 500 was flat, and the Nasdaq Composite was adding 0.56%.

Earlier today, U.S. President Donald Trump said that there wouldn't be a trade deal until he met Chinese President Xi, which is expected to take place later in February, and made it clear that this week's high-level meeting between two sides' officials won't be yielding a positive outcome. 

Out of 11 major S&P 500 sectors, materials is losing more than 3% on the day while the communications services, boosted by a more than 10% increase witnessed in social-media-giant Facebook's shares, add 2.5% to support the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite. Despite today's uninspiring start to the day, all three major indexes remain on track to post their largest monthly gains in nearly three years.